1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keeping device for a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a keeping device for a refrigerator having a large keeping space by including a movable shelf that can be folded and unfolded and a refrigerator having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a refrigerator is a device having a certain accommodating space to keep food items, or the like, in a low temperature state. Discriminating low temperature ranges for freezing or refrigerating food items depending on the state of food items to be kept in storage, the refrigerator is divided into a refrigerating chamber for keeping food items in storage in an above-zero degree and a freezing chamber for keeping food items in storage in a below-zero degree. The interior of the refrigerator is cooled by continuously supplied cooling air, and cooling air is continuously generated by a heat exchanging operation of a refrigerant which repeatedly performs the cycle of compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating.
The refrigerator includes a type in which the freezing chamber is positioned at an upper side of the refrigerating chamber, a type in which the freezing chamber is positioned at a lower side of the refrigerating chamber, and a type in which the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber are positioned to be adjacent horizontally. Recently, a large-capacity refrigerator or a multi-functional refrigerator tends to be on demand in line with the diversification of user preferences and a change in the people's dietary life, for to which refrigerators in various structures are released.
Each internal space of the freezing chamber and refrigerating chamber form various storage spaces by a plurality of shelves and drawers. A freezing chamber door and a refrigerating chamber door are installed at a front side of each of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber in order to selectively open and close the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber.
A plurality of door baskets are provided in layers with a certain height difference at an inner surface of the freezing chamber door and the refrigerating chamber door in order to keep food items such as drinking water bottles, cans, or the like, which are kept largely in a standing position, in storage. Here, the space between the door baskets is larger than the height of the drinking water bottles, cans, or the like, accommodated in the door baskets.
In the related art refrigerator, when the drinking water bottles, cans, or the like, are received in the door baskets, the space between the door baskets are preferably large. However, in an otherwise case, namely, when shorter items are accommodated, the space between the door baskets is too large to utilize. Thus, in consideration of this, a method of including a cover for performing selectively opening and closing operation at the door baskets of the related art refrigerator to enlarge the receiving space has been proposed.
However, the related art refrigerator having the cover is disadvantageous in that because the cover closes the door basket, when an item is received in the door basket or when an item received in the door basket is taken out, the item should be first drawn out of the cover, the cover is open, and the item is received in the door basket or the received item should be taken.
Also, in the related art refrigerator having the cover has a problem in that because the cover is tightly attached to the door basket, when the cover is folded or unfolded, collision noise can increase. In addition, the structure for restraining the cover when the cover is folded is complicated to increase the fabrication cost.
In addition, in the related art refrigerator, fixed support portions are protrusively formed at both sides of the outer surface of the door basket and corresponding sides of the inner surface of the door, which are to be engaged to be coupled. In this case, however, a portion of the door basket is inwardly bent by the height of the fixed support portions, reducing a valid space.